The Script

Explanation

Separate each action by the pipe, that’s the little thing that looks like |

Get-Content is where you’ll grab the information in the text file. Mine was located at C:\scripts\to-delete.txt but you can put it anywhere as long as you write out the whole path.

The Get-ADComputer -Filter is comparing the computers that are there to folders that are in your list. Don’t worry about the syntax, just trust it.

Finally, remove the ADObject using Remove-ADObject

Remove-ADObject instead of Remove-ADComputer?!

Yes. This is because it performs the same result as Remove-ADComputer but with Remove-ADObject you can add -Recrusive. Why!? Because some objects in AD have sub objects. For example, some of the computers in my list had an OU underneath it. You’ll get a nasty message if you don’t do this. It looks like this:

Remove-ADComputer : The directory service can perform the requested operation only on a leaf objectAt line:x

What’s the -WhatIf

You don’t just want to delete anything without testing your work. What if there was a typo and this script deleted all your machines? Put the -WhatIf at the end of it and you’ll get a great read out of what’s about to happen:

It didn’t do this action, it just showed you what it would do if you removed the -WhatIf attribute.

Dan Lee

Dan B. Lee works at SyApps, LLC., a Managed Hosting Solutions Firm, as a Senior Network Engineer. Dan has a decade of IT experience and specializes in a number of different disciplines including Virtualization, Web Site Hosting and Design, Network Security, Data Center Architecture, Local and Remote Server Hosting, and Backup & DRS Solutions. Read More…